AUGUSTA, Maine — Teamwork is the undeniable key to success in cheerleading competitions.

A dozen members of the Sumner Memorial High School squad have been cheering together for the last three years. Saturday afternoon, they were rewarded for all the hard work.

Coach Monica Chipman’s Tigers were among the last of the 24 teams to compete, but it proved worth the wait as Sumner won the school’s first cheerleading state title.

The Eastern Maine champions scored 132.2 points to hold off runner-up Central of Corinth (130.1) to win Class C. Dexter finished third with 128.4 points in a sweep that will send three EM squads to the New England Championships March 20 in Providence, R.I.

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“They actually all know how each other works,” said Chipman. “We just decided to step it up a level this year [in terms of difficulty] to see if we could really hit this routine.”

Houlton took fourth place with 125.0 points and Orono (124.1) placed fifth, while Western Maine champ Monmouth Academy was sixth (122.1), followed by Saint Dominic of Auburn (120.2) and Washington Academy of East Machias (120.0).

Rounding out the 12-team Class C field were Livermore Falls (109.1), Dirigo of Dixfield (109.1), Sacopee Valley of South Hiram (105.6) and Jay (101.0).

In the Class C competition, Sumner’s veterans enabled them to secure the crown.

The Tigers also received a boost from the likes of their only senior and male team member, Jacob Backman. He had served as the team manager the previous two years.

“They talked me into cheering, so I said I might as well try it,” Backman said. “The reason that I didn’t cheer last year is that I didn’t know if I could tumble … But I took gymnastics this summer and I got my tuck and stuff and I said I’ll give it a try.”

The chemistry developed over three years was evident as Sumner impressed the judges with a nice series of lifts and spin dismounts, good synchronization in its dancing and a solid, enthusiastic finish.

Most of that came after an early fall that wound up not resulting in a deduction.

“That’s a really important thing to remember in cheering: Even if there’s some kind of mistake, you have to keep going, you have to pretend like it didn’t happen and keep up your spirit,” Patten said.